1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a mobile terminal and, more particularly, to a coupled structure of a display unit and case of the mobile terminal.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
Terminals may be generally classified as mobile/portable terminals or stationary terminals according to their mobility. Mobile terminals may also be classified as handheld terminals or vehicle mounted terminals according to whether or not a user can directly carry the terminal.
Mobile terminals have become increasingly more functional. Examples of such functions include data and voice communications, capturing images and video via a camera, recording audio, playing music files via a speaker system, and displaying images and video on a display. Some mobile terminals include additional functionality which supports game playing, while other terminals are configured as multimedia players. More recently, mobile terminals have been configured to receive broadcast and multicast signals which permit viewing of content such as videos and television programs.
As functions of the terminal are getting diversified, the terminal tends to be implemented as a multimedia player provided with complex functions such as photographing of photos or videos, playback of music or video files, game play, broadcast reception and the like for example.
Thus, as the multimedia functionality is emphasized, a size of a display of a mobile terminal tends to increase in order to provide a user with better views of the various media and functions mentioned in the foregoing description. On the contrary, a size of the mobile terminal tends to decrease to facilitate portability. Hence, in order to implement a smaller terminal size, a case is designed small and a design for reducing a structure for coupling a display unit with the case is taken into consideration like other parts of the case. Owing to this reason, a contact area between a display unit and a case coupled together can be reduced.
Moreover, a large display is advantageous in aspect of multimedia functionality. Yet, it may be difficult for a user to concentrate on information displayed on the large display due to a size of the large display. Therefore, in order for a user to easily concentrate on displayed information, a display having a prescribed curvature tends to apply to a mobile terminal recently. However, in order to match the display having the prescribed curvature, a case, and more particularly, a part for coupling the display and the case together has a prescribed curvature as well. Hence, it may be difficult to stably install a coupling member on the case or display or to uniformly apply an adhesive due to the curvature.
As mentioned in the foregoing description, the recent design change of a mobile terminal may weaken the coupling strength between a display and a case. Hence, the demand for a solution for maintaining or strengthening the coupling strength appropriately is rising.